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Advent Calendar

Some of my best Christmas memories aren’t from the day itself but rather from the days and weeks leading up to it: the letters to Santa, the evenings spent trimming the tree, the cookie baking (and eating), and, of course, the daily ritual of the advent calendar.

Every morning in December my sister and I would clamor downstairs to the calendar, eager to mark one day closer to Santa’s arrival. The Christmas countdown was a real tradition in our house, made all the more meaningful by the calendar itself. Ours had been hand made by my grandmother, and it saw us through every December I can remember. Even as a kid I knew how special this was, and I loved admiring all the details of her handiwork.

Now that I have children of my own, I am excited to bring the same kind of magic to their Christmas season. I wanted our calendar to be fun, modern and long-lasting, but mostly, I knew that nothing short of hand-made would do!

This Advent Calendar fits the bill perfectly. Made with a colorful selection of 100% wool felt and embellished with a bevy of beautiful sequins and beads, it’s built to withstand the test of time (and small fingers), with just enough vintage whimsy to remind me of where it all began. My girls are still too young to really appreciate the ritual yet, but I can see the spirit of Christmas Future, and it’s looking very bright!

To make your own calendar (and to start your very own family tradition) we’ve compiled everything you’ll need in our Advent Calendar Kit. It includes…

100% wool felt in 12 colors

100% cotton thread in 3 colors

Embroidery floss

Embroidery needle

Beading needle

Sequins in 5 colors and beads in 3 colors

Straight pins

Iron-on transfer pencil

Fabric marker

Stuffing for ornaments

Wood dowel for hanging

12-Page, full-color instructional booklet

Cutting and transfer templates

And it all comes beautifully packaged in a sturdy tube, which makes it a great gift… even if it’s just to yourself! – Corinne

P.S. Already have the materials? You can find the pattern on its own right here too!

86 Responses to Advent Calendar

Almost done with the ornaments…..takes some patience but has an addictive quality to it :). It's fun playing with color combinations. If I did it again, I might look at using ribbon, rick rack or small buttons for trim.

This is a wonderfully updated version of a calendar I remember from my childhood! I'd like to put my vote in for being able to purchase the pattern only – I have tons of odds and ends I would be able to use for this! How big are the ornaments themselves? Based on what you've said the calendar measures at, it seems they'd have to be pretty small…. Are they difficult to hand sew?

Thank you so much for writing in! The ornaments measure about 2 1/2 inches tall on average. They all take a little bit of time to sew, but they're not difficult at all. Also, the booklet has step by step instructions and photographs to help you along the way! We will definitely keep your (and everyone else's!)request in mind for selling the pattern booklet outside of the kit for the next holiday season. It's a great idea!

What a beautiful calendar! I imagine that with a little extra work, we could use snaps to attach to the tree. Without the ornaments, it could still be like little silver balls; and with the ornaments, so much color and dimension. Thank you for this gorgeous piece!

If you are a little bit crafty, and also have some basic math skills, you can make one of these all by yourself without a kit!

My mom and I made three of these about 20 years ago, all out of felt, it looked exactly like this.We had a little factory going with the sewing and making the ornaments.We made 3 trees and made the banner just like this with the dowel.At the bottom on each row calculate 6 little pockets for the ornaments

With the kids, we used to take turns each morning at breakfast.We have a lot of fond memories of ours.This is a good reminder. I want to make some for the grand children now

Hi! I love the idea of this kit and I had ordered it. Why am I having difficulty with the transfer of the numbers. I believe I am following instructions but nothing appears on the felt! Help! Thank you.. Cathy

I am so sorry you're having trouble with the transfer! To get the numbers to stay, I would first try ironing for longer (it definitely takes time for the transfer pencil markings to "heat up"), and if that doesn't work, go up incrementally on the heat on your iron until it transfers.

I hope this helps! And, please let us know if you have any other questions as you are putting your calendar together. We'd love to hear from you!

I am sorry that you are also having trouble with the number transfer, even after working with higher heat. I would also recommend working on a hard surface and holding the iron for a bit longer. If you can get at least a faint transfer, you can darken the lines by going over them with the fabric marker included in the kit.

I am in the process of making this advent and am having a difficult time with the iron transfer of the numbers. I have tried pressing very hard, using more heat and leaving the iron on for a longer time and nothing has worked. I also bought another transfer pencil and carbon paper and neither transfer to the felt. I have no idea what to try next.

Hi Lily – I am so sorry that you're having such a hard time transferring the numbers! It sounds like you've tried almost everything! One last thing I would suggest is to use the iron-on transfer pencil to trace the numbers onto a piece of standard white copy paper and then iron them onto the felt from that paper. The paper that the templates are printed on is slightly heavier than standard text weight and this could be what is causing the problem. The lighter weight paper should transfer the numbers faster and with less heat.

I think I may have asked this before the website updated, and now I don’t see the response, or my question! How do the ornaments ‘stick’ to the tree? Is it he magic of felt? Or is there something else that helps hold them? Thanks! Adorable kit! I want to make it for my 2 year old.

Okay, real talk: How long does this project take to complete. I love this project, and like many others, it reminds me of my childhood advent calendar. I have been planning all year to make it for Advent, but I haven’t sewn since I was a child. Is it more hand-sewing, or more machine sewing? As of today, there are 22 days until Advent starts. Do you think I would be able to complete it before Advent, or am I (and my sanity better off waiting and making it for next year?

There is a small bit of machine sewing to piece the calendar background, but the project overall is mostly hand sewing and embroidery. The speed of completion really will depend on how fast and confident you are with these skills. Since you haven’t sewn since you were a child, my guess is that it could take you a little while to get in the groove so it may take a little longer to finish.

I suggest starting the calendar background now: embroidery the numbers, piece it together and sew on the tree. I think this is a good goal to finish in 22 days. If you don’t get it done in time, no worries, you can keep working on it in the new year, and if you do, you can move on to the ornaments! The ornaments are a great sit in front of the TV kind of project and can get finished over the course of a week or two. And, because they are sewn and stuffed first, then embellished, you can always use them without the sequins this year and wait and add the embellishments in time for next year’s Advent.

Thank you for writing in! I’m sorry that you are also having trouble transferring the numbers. I’m not sure what you’ve already tried, but here are a couple of suggestions that could help!

First, you could use the iron-on transfer pencil to trace the numbers onto a piece of standard white copy paper and then iron them onto the felt from that paper. The paper that the templates are printed on is slightly heavier than standard text weight and this could be what is causing the problem. The lighter weight paper should transfer the numbers faster and with less heat.

Or, one of our commenters, Jayne, had another great tip that uses the fabric marker:

Use a large pin/needle or thin nail to pierce numerous holes in the number outlines on the template. Lay the Template on the felt numbered side down. Push the tip of the fabric marker through the holes pierced through the template. You should have visible blue dots to follow for stitching. After stitching, these marks can be erased with opposite end of blue fabric marker.

Hi – I was having a terrible time transferring the numbers as well. I took Jayne’s advice and pushed holes through with the marking pen. I found that works best on my ironing board into which I could push the pen.

I am getting ready to order the kit and have one question the felt squares that are provided do you think you can get more than one ornament out of each square? I have three adult children that I was going to make these for as I had made one for them years ago when they were growing up.

Thank you for writing in. This will be a wonderful gift for your children!

The kit comes with one 18 by 36-inch piece of felt to make the calendar back and pockets, one 18 by 18-inch felt piece for the tree, and ten felt squares that measure approximately 9 by 12 inches for the ornaments. You can get roughly 6 ornaments per felt piece, so a total of about 60. If you would like to make two additional calendars with one kit, you will also need . . .

Just finished my calendar tonight on the eve of Advent! I’m so thrilled to complete it in time and it’s just lovely. I highly recommend this kit or pattern. I got the kit for Christmas last year and set a goal of chipping away at the project over the year. Someone asked how long the ornaments take, etc. I found it manageable to make 2-3 ornaments per month and then finished up the banner, embroidery numbers and the tree in the month of November. I’m sure it could be knocked out in a couple of weeks if you have evenings free. I have two kids so I knew to be realistic I had to spread this out. Anyhoo, just had to do a little “Woot, woot” that it all came together. Craft heaven I tell ya. Merry Christmas, y’all:)

I recently purchased the kit for this, and found that there were only a few thread colors. Would you recommend getting other colors besides what’s included? In the example, it looks like you matched the thread colors with the felt colors. I’m a bit disappointed that the colors shown in the sample aren’t included in the kit.

To avoid including an excessive amount of thread spools in the kit we carefully chose thread colors that we thought would coordinate well with all of the felt colors, without “matching” them up exactly. You shouldn’t need any additional colors beyond what is included in the kit.

When you are choosing which color thread to use with a specific felt color, unspool a small bit of the different colors of thread and lay them on top of the felt. Choose the color that blends into the color the most. You will only see a small bit of the thread along the side edge of the ornament pieces, so any slight variation in color should not be noticeable on the finished project.

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